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WASHINGTON (AP) — Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Washington confirmed Scalia's death at a private residence in the Big Bend area of South Texas.

The service's spokeswoman, Donna Sellers, says Scalia had retired for the evening and was found dead Saturday morning when he did not appear for breakfast.

Scalia used his keen intellect and missionary zeal in an unyielding attempt to move the court farther to the right and to get it to embrace his "originalist" view of judging after his 1986 appointment by President Ronald Reagan.

Chief Justice John Roberts says Scalia "was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues. His passing is a great loss to the Court and the country he so loyally served."

President Barack Obama is praising the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a brilliant legal mind who influenced a generation of lawyers and students.

Former President George W. Bush calls Scalia "a towering figure and important judge on our Nation's highest court." Bush goes on to say "he brought intellect, good judgment, and wit to the bench, and he will be missed by his colleagues and our country."

SUPREME COURT-POLITICAL FIGHT

Scalia's death sparks election-year fight over filling vacancy

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he will seek to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, charging into a heated and likely prolonged election-year fight with Republicans in Congress.

On Saturday night, Obama said a nomination was "bigger than any one party."

With a half-dozen or more major cases before the court, Obama said he plans to fulfill his constitutional responsibility to nominate a successor in due time.

He said the Senate should have "plenty of time ... to give that person a fair hearing and timely vote."

Obama's remarks followed those of Republicans who wasted little time Saturday night, as news of Scalia's unexpected death spread, arguing that Obama should leave the choice to his successor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice," adding that "this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."

His position was echoed by a pair of senators seeking the GOP presidential nomination: Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump is bristling at Jeb Bush's suggestions that he went bankrupt in his past business ventures.

Trump said during Saturday's Republican debate that he never personally went bankrupt, and instead, suggested that he only used bankruptcy proceedings and tax laws to protect struggling businesses.

Trump then went on the offensive against Bush, Florida's former governor, saying he wasn't a good governor.

Trump said Bush ran up so much state debt that "as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed." It was an accusation that made some in the crowd boo in disbelief.

Bush denied the charge and said that Trump's past bankruptcy filings meant those who did business with him didn't get paid for past services.

TERROR FUNDING CUTS

Schumer slams Obama budget cuts to anti-terror funds

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is slamming a White House proposal that would cut nearly $300 million from counterterrorism programs.

The New York Democrat notes that the recently released budget proposal would reduce the Urban Area Security Initiative from $600 million to $330 million. The initiative helps cities nationwide with programs to prevent, respond to and recover from extremist attacks.

Schumer says the proposal is "ill-advised" and "makes no sense." He is pushing President Barack Obama to reconsider the cuts.

Schumer says the funding is needed to keep counterterrorism programs fully operational, especially in New York City. The money is used for training programs and to fund patrols at airports, transit hubs and waterways.

GERMANY-SECURITY CONFERENCE

Somalia's president: Many fight for al-Shabab for money

MUNICH (AP) — Somalia's president says military forces have made inroads in their fight against al-Shabab militants but the key to defeating them lies in providing better opportunities for the country's youth.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday told a gathering of top defense officials and diplomats that 70 percent of his country's population is under 35 and have grown up in the chaos of a lawless state after the government collapsed in 1991.

He says that's left them "very, very vulnerable to be recruited by the evil forces" like al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab.

Mohamud says many of those fighting for al-Shabab "are not there for ideological reasons, they are there for economic reasons ... to feed their families."

Somalia faces regular al-Shabab attacks even after driving them from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011.

SYRIA

NEW: Syria condemns Turkish shelling

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government has condemned Turkey's shelling of Syrian territory, describing it as an attempt to raise the morale of "terrorist" groups.

In two messages sent Sunday to the U.N. secretary general and the president of the U.N. Security Council, Damascus also denounced recent statements made by the Turkish prime minister justifying shelling Kurdish fighters in Syria.

The government strongly urged the U.N. Security Council to put an end to the "crimes of the Turkish regime."

Turkey is one of the leading backers of the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Syrian government refers to all rebel groups as "terrorists."

Turkish forces shelled positions held by the main Kurdish militia in northern Syria for a second day Sunday.

AFGHANISTAN-UN CASUALTIES REPORT

UN: 2015 civilian injuries in Afghan war worst since 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United Nations says civilian injuries in Afghanistan's long war with the Taliban rose last year, with women and children again bearing the brunt of the violence.

In a report released Sunday, the U.N. says a total of 3,545 civilians were killed in 2015 as a result of the war. Another 7,457 were wounded, it says.

The figures mark a 4-percent drop in civilian deaths, but a 9-percent rise in civilian injuries, compared to 2014.

The U.N.'s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 2015 had the "highest number of total civilian casualties recorded by UNAMA since 2009."

It also said that 10 percent of civilian casualties were women, up 37 percent from the year before. It says 25 percent were children, up 14 percent.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS

Group: 1,800 housing starts in West Bank settlements in 2015

JERUSALEM (AP) — A watchdog group says Israel began building 1,800 new settlement homes in the West Bank in 2015.

Peace Now, a dovish Israeli group that tracks settlement construction, says most of the building has taken place in isolated settlements in areas of the West Bank that Israel would likely evacuate in the event of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War and built settlements there. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but nearly 600,000 Israeli settlers remain in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The Palestinians claim these areas as parts of a future state, a position that has wide global support. They say Israeli settlement construction is a sign of bad faith.

At a Cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu cited media reports that Biden was considering visiting Israel in the coming days. He said Biden's staff is landing in Israel Sunday, but dates for a visit have not been set.

Last month, Biden met Netanyahu in Davos, Switzerland shortly after the U.S. lifted sanctions on Iran as part of a nuclear deal. The U.S. has sought to soften Israel's concerns on the deal through discussions about a new long-term agreement on U.S. military aid for Israel.

Biden's last visit to Israel sparked a diplomatic spat with Washington in 2010, when Israel announced settlement construction plans during Biden's visit.

POPE

Pope heads for a bad side of town

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Pope Francis will venture into a crime-ridden suburb of Mexico City Sunday to preach a message of hope and solidarity to residents.

A Mass will feature readings about not being tempted by the devil. The pope frequently invokes the threat of "the evil one."

Drug violence, gangland-style executions and kidnappings are daily facts of life in the suburb of Ecatepec.

On Saturday, Vatican officials estimated as many as 1 million people came out to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis during his first full day in Mexico.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi says the figure includes people who lined the motorcade routes as well as those who attended the pope's Mass at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe and gathered at the capital's main square.

BRITAIN-EUROPE

NEW: Multiple crises challenge European Union ahead of summit

LONDON (AP) — Just ahead of a summit this week in Brussels, many experts say that if the European Union were a patient, its survival would be seen as threatened by multiple organ failure.

The migrant crisis refuses to go away. Informal mini-blocs have formed with some countries ignoring a refugee resettlement program. Britain, a nuclear power with a seat at the U.N. Security Council, is demanding concessions ahead of a referendum on whether it should simply abandon the EU. And there's a divisive budget crunch.

Analysts believe the combined strain of these challenges may be unbearable for a political union and trading bloc that just 20 years ago seemed to be growing in stature as it proudly offered freedom and democracy — along with lucrative subsidies, military alliances and billions in foreign investment — to newly freed former Soviet satellites.

BRITAIN-ROWERS RESCUED

NEW: 4 UK rowers rescued from Atlantic after boat capsizes

LONDON (AP) — Four British women trying to cross the Atlantic in a rowing boat have been rescued after they were stranded in the mid-Atlantic Ocean for more than 16 hours when their boat capsized and they lost their oars.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency says the rowers sent a distress signal early Saturday, when they were 400 nautical miles from Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa.

The crew of four had to abandon their charity attempt to break the women's speed record for rowing almost 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) across the Atlantic between Gran Canaria in Spain and Barbados.

The women were rescued early Sunday by a bulk carrier on its way to Canada and are reported to be well.